


What I've Been Looking For

by darlingholocene



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Disney, Fluff, High School Musical AU, M/M, Mutual Pining, Victor as Troy and Yuuri as Gabriella
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 12:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11127417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingholocene/pseuds/darlingholocene
Summary: A High School Musical AU-Transfer student Katsuki Yuuri never meant to develop a crush on the most eligible bachelor at East High, but he just couldn’t help it.Victor Nikiforov is a force of nature.His smile his heart-shaped and his laugh contagious and loud. He seems to be genuinely nice and friendly despite being a jock, which is why everyone loves him. He’s a little air-headed and a really good athlete.Yuuri thinks he also seems lonely, but that can’t be true.





	What I've Been Looking For

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, when an idea for a dumb AU gets stuck in my head there's no way I can not write it.

Yuuri Katsuki is shy, and he's a geek.

Even just one of those two things would be more than enough to make sure that his high school career is something that he will likely want to forget about as soon as possible when he graduates.

Then, there's the fact that his father has to move pretty much every single year because of his job, which condemns him to perpetually be "the new kid".

Yuuri hates it.

"I'm really sorry, Yuuri," his father tells him on New Year's Eve.

Yuuri already knows the drill. He gets smashed at the hotel party regardless, even though he knows it won't change anything.

They move to sunny Albuquerque the second week of January of his senior year, and Yuuri Katsuki is the new kid again.

\---

East High is exactly the same as every other high school Yuuri has attended – and that’s a _lot_ of schools.

On the first day, at least three people misspell his name and he has to awkwardly introduce himself in front of the classroom. He forces himself to join the Maths and Physics Club, because he knows that his mom will worry that he won’t make any friends if he doesn’t.

By lunch, he has learned pretty much everything he needs to survive without being noticed: the basketball team, the Wildcats, are a Big Deal. Their captain is the most beautiful human being Yuuri has ever seen, with his silver bangs and perfect teeth and bright blue eyes, and Yuuri catches himself staring at him while he crosses the hall with some of his teammates and blushing a little.

The school’s star athlete, of course, doesn’t notice him. Yuuri is immensely relieved.

Someone else does, thought.

“That’s Victor Nikiforov. I know, he’s really hot, isn’t he?”

That’s how Yuuri meets Phichit. He’s a transfer student as well and his locker is right next to Yuuri’s.

Before he realizes, Yuuri has made a friend.

\---

Despite having only moved a couple of months before him, Phichit knows everything about everyone at East High. He’s part of the Drama Club as a sound technician, and he both loves it and hates it. The director, professor Cialdini, is an extremely dramatic Italian man who keeps giving all the lead roles to the also Italian Crispino twins.

“Sara is okay, really, but her _brother_ and his overprotective shit,” Phichit comments. “But I guess no one else really wants to audition for the lead roles anyway, apart from Georgi. And Georgi is pretty terrible,” he sighs.

Yuuri finds out Phichit is good friends with some of the other members of the Maths and Physics Club, Seung-Gil and Leo, and the two quickly join in the new circle of friends.

Yuuri has actual _friends._ He can hardly believe it.

There’s one person that Yuuri doesn’t dare ask Phichit about. He’s scared that his silly crush would be discovered.

Phichit finds out anyways.

\---

Yuuri never meant to develop a crush on the most eligible bachelor at East High, but he just couldn’t help it.

Victor Nikiforov is a force of nature.

His smile his heart-shaped and his laugh contagious and loud. He seems to be genuinely nice and friendly despite being a jock, which is why everyone loves him. He’s a little air-headed and a really good athlete.

Yuuri thinks he also seems lonely, but that can’t be true.

“His coach, professor Feltsman, is also his legal guardian. He adopted both him and Yuri Plisetsky, a freshman who’s also in the team,” Phichit tells him one day, without Yuuri having to ask because he’s just _that obvious._ “You should go talk to him. Introduce yourself,” he suggests.

Yuuri shakes his head furiously.

He doesn’t think he’d ever survive if he had to talk to Victor.

\---

Yuuri has been a student at East High for almost a month when he accidentally crashes into Victor while rushing to class and ends up lying on the floor in the middle of the mostly empty hall.

“Oh no, are you okay?”

Victor crouches next to him and offers him a hand to help Yuuri sit up.

It’s unfair how beautiful Victor is from up close, and Yuuri dies a little when he notices that Victor has _freckles_ on his nose. _Freckles._

He opens and closes his mouth a few times, but no sound comes out.

Victor raises a hand and gently takes Yuuri’s glasses off to check them, and then – then he stares at Yuuri, looking absolutely gobsmacked.

“I’m okay,” Yuuri says, five minutes too late.

“I- Hi. Hi, I… I’ve never seen you around here before,” Victor says, a little breathless, still holding Yuuri’s glasses in one hand.

“I-uhm. I’ve just transferred here last month from Detroit,” Yuuri manages to say, voice trembling just a little. “I’m Yuuri,” he adds as an afterthought.

“How come I’ve never seen you in any of my classes, Yuuri?” Victor asks, pensively, his eyes never leaving his face, making him blush furiously.

“I am but I’m- well, most of the classes I’m taking are advanced,” Yuuri confesses, and he waits for Victor to make some sort of comment about him being a geek. 

“Wow,” Victor says instead. “That’s amazing. I wish I was smart enough for that.”

Yuuri looks at him, eyes wide and voice gone.

“Yuuri, I – “

“Victor! Hurry up, will you?”

It’s JJ, Victor’s teammate, calling Victor from one of the classrooms.

Victor helps Yuuri gets to his feet, and Yuuri’s hands tingle from the touch. Victor squeezes them gently before he lets him go.

“I’ll see you around, Yuuri,” Victor tells him, and it sounds like a promise. “By the way, my name is Victor!” he adds, with a bright grin and a wink, before turning around and running to his class.

Yuuri is ten minutes late to Advanced Physics.

\---

“Yuuri, that's awesome! Now Victor knows who you are, isn't that what you wanted?"

"He doesn't know who I am, Phichit."

\---

Victor does know.

In fact, Victor seems to suddenly be everywhere: outside Yuuri's advanced English class hanging flyers to walls; always behind him in the line at the cafeteria; crossing paths with Yuuri in the hall at least twice a day.

Every single time Victor sees Yuuri, he beams at him with his heart-shaped smile and cheerfully says "Hi, Yuuri!"

Every single time Yuuri waves at him shyly, conscious that all the eyes that usually follow Victor are on him too, albeit for a brief moment.

Sometimes, when he's not with JJ or Yuri Plisetsky, Victor attempts to make conversation with him. He's a hurricane of optimism and energy, and despite his own shyness Yuuri finds that he's never really uncomfortable around Victor.

Once, Yuuri sees Christophe Giacometti, Victor's teammate and best friend, practically shove Victor towards him. It's very weird.

"It's not weird, Yuuri. I think he likes you," Phichit tells him, patiently.

"He's a jock. He's the most popular student at Easr High. He's so beautiful it hurts your eyes and he's just about the nicest person alive."

"So?"

"He's trying to be nice to me too. Because I'm new."

"I'm new too, and he doesn't try to talk to me at every opportunity."

"That's because you don't look like you need help with socializing. He probably thinks I'm socially inept," Yuuri sighs, defeated.

"....or, he likes you and he's trying to get your attention," Phichit tells him, exasperated. Yuuri appreciates the support, but he doesn't let himself hope.

Dreaming, though - that's a whole different thing.

\---

One day, Yuuri sees Victor comfort a freshman who is crying behind the school building because she failed a test.

He’s not very good at it, but he gives her a lollipop and shows her pictures of his dog until she calms down.

Yuuri falls in love with him right then.

\---

The auditions for the Musical are open. Yuuri knows this because it's announced on a big, pink flyer covered in rhinestones that's impossible to miss. _History Maker_ is an original show composed by Minami Kenjirou, a freshman and, apparently, a musical genius.

He steps closer and he only sees a few names written on it: the Crispino twins, of course, Georgi Popovich, and a handful of students he doesn't know.

The thing is – Yuuri loves singing.

His parents had made him take piano lessons as a kid, and he would spend hours singing quietly in his room as his small fingers moved on his keyboard – he still does, but he could never sing in public. Just the idea of it is enough to give him nightmares.

Even so, he finds himself stopping in front of the tacky flyer every time he sees it, going to class or coming back from it. Phichit notices, and he’s not the only one who does.

One week after the flyer first appeared, Yuuri is cornered by Michele Crispino in the middle of the hall.

“I know you’re new, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you don’t know how things work around me. No one gets to sing with my sister, is that clear?”

Yuuri can only stare, mouth slightly agape in shock as he manages to stammer out a ‘what?’

“Don’t play dumb with me, kiddo. It says clearly on the flyer that the musical is a love story. I know you’re thinking to audition so you get to sing with Sara, and well, I have bad news for you: she and I are auditioning together,” Michele announces, clearly satisfied with himself, and yes, Yuuri had thought Phichit was being a little dramatic in describing Michele to him. It turns out that, if anything, he had been too kind.

“I- I really don’t – “ he starts, but Michele interrupts him promptly.

“Look, you could be a tree, or maybe even help Phichit with the sounds or whatever. It’s not like you can sing the duet by yourself at the auditions, so – “

“But he isn’t! We’re auditioning together, isn’t that right, Yuuri?”

Victor is suddenly next to him, impossibly beautiful as he smiles down at him and then at Michele.

“Is this a joke?” the Italian asks, clearly taken off guard.

“Nope,” Victor replies, taking out a pen and turning around to write down his name and Yuuri’s on the sheet.

This can’t be true.

“This can’t be true, you… you’re a jock! You can’t even sing!” Michele protests, agitated.

“Of course I can,” is Victor’s nonchalant reply. “And so can Yuuri, he has the voice of an angel,” he adds, putting his arm around Yuuri’s shoulder. He glances at Yuuri then, and he looks a little nervous as he does. Yuuri is so shocked by everything that’s going on – not to mention the fact that Victor is _touching_ him, and he smells so _good_ – that he can only nod, dumbstruck.

Michele stalks off, furious and panicking and half shouting in Italian, and Victor and Yuuri are finally alone.

“Well,” Victor says, still smiling brightly. “We should probably learn the song if we’re going to audition next month.”

Yuuri turns to face him, Victor’s hand still on his shoulder, but he still can’t really process anything that’s just happened.

“Yuuri?” Victor asks then, concern in his voice and in his face – and Victor should never look concerned, Yuuri thinks despite the situation. He should never look _sad_. “Oh,” he murmurs, lowering his pale blue eyes. “I’m sorry, you probably don’t want to do this, do you? Or maybe you were going to audition with someone else. I’m sorry, Yuuri, I – sometimes I open my mouth before I think. I can tell Michele it was a joke, or – “

“I want to,” Yuuri tells him, blushing and terrified. “But I… I’ve never sung in public. I don’t know if I can do it,” he confesses, barely more than a whisper.

Victor looks at him fondly and he cradles Yuuri’s face with his hands, sending his heart into overdrive.

“We’ll do it together,” he declares.

And so, it’s happening.

\---

To the delight of Phichit’s Instagram account, Michele Crispino and Georgi Popovich start a flash-mob in the Cafeteria, singing about the need for people to stick to the status quo.

Sara Crispino doesn’t join them. She and Yuuri have Science together, and when she had seen him that morning she had told him that she really hoped he and Victor did well at the audition. Yuuri has a feeling she’s got enough of her brother’s protectiveness.

“They could at least _try_ to be subtle about it,” Victor says, amused, as if his teammates and his coach hadn’t been equally as adamant that he should give up on his idea of auditioning for the musical.

Yuuri laughs a little.

They’re alone in the music room, waiting for Minami. The composer had been absolutely thrilled when he had learned that they were going to audition against the Crispino twins, and he had sent them a really beautiful duet called _What I’ve Been Looking For_ to learn.

Today is their first rehearsal.

Yuuri is terrified.

Victor’s playing confident and effortless, but Yuuri can tell he’s a bit nervous as well from the way he keeps pushing his bangs out of his face.

“I’ve never really sung in front of people before,” Victor admits, sitting down next to Yuuri on the piano stool. The proximity is exhilarating. “Just one time, but… this is different.”

Yuuri twinkles a couple notes, a small smile on his face because Victor is human too, but he wants to do this with _him._

When Minami arrives, Victor grabs Yuuri’s hand and squeezes it once.

Yuuri is ready to face the world.

\---

“How was it? Can he sing? Did you manage to sing without passing out?”

“It was beautiful,” Yuuri whispers.

\---

Yuuri and Victor see each other twice a week to rehearse with Minami, and Yuuri really loves singing with Victor. It feels natural, and like a connection. It makes him feel free and bold enough that the comments in the halls don’t affect him too much.

He finds out a lot of little things about Victor: that he will sometimes reply in Russian if he’s distracted, that he wears contact most of the time but actually owns a pair of really nerdy, old fashioned glasses (and he looks unfairly beautiful with those on, too), and that he’s obsessed with his poodle and has a really terrible taste in music.

It’s the Friday of the second week when Victor asks Yuuri if he would like to get a milkshake together. He looks at him expectantly, blue eyes hopeful and freckles visible because of a slight blush.

Yuuri says yes, and half an hour later they are sitting in a booth of a diner in front of two pink milkshakes, Victor’s heart-shaped smile and laugh enchanting as he tells Yuuri fun stories about living with professor Yakov and the irritable Yuri Plisetsky.

At some point, Victor gently threads his fingers through Yuuri’s, his thumb caressing Yuuri’s palm slowly and taking Yuuri’s breath away, butterflies going wild in his stomach.

When it’s time for dinner, Victor drives Yuuri home.

“Yuuri,” he tells him in a whisper, and he’s blushing and fidgeting a little. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m glad we’re doing this together. I haven’t felt this happy about something in a long time, and – uh, I just – I always feel like myself when I’m with you,” he finishes, and Yuuri thinks he’s even more beautiful when he’s being human like this.

“Me too,” he says, smiling, heart beating so fast that it aches a little.

Victor leans forward, pressing his cool lips on Yuuri’s cheek. Yuuri feels the sweet pressure for days.

\---

It’s the day before the audition, and JJ Leroy stops Yuuri outside of the Chemistry lab and asks him to talk.

“There’s something I think you should know before you audition in front of the whole school tomorrow.”

\---

Yuuri can’t stop crying.

He feels so _stupid_ and so _ashamed_. Why did he let himself believe that someone like Victor could really be interested in someone like him?

“I’m sorry, Yuuri,” JJ had said, not sounding sorry at all. “Victor can be a very selfish person. I just don’t think that you should have to pay the price for that. Yuuri, don’t you know that the qualifying game for the provincials is tomorrow, at the same exact time of the audition? Victor is the _captain_. He never had any actual intention of showing up tomorrow.”

Yuuri had skipped his rehearsals with Victor and Minami and gone straight home, sending Victor a text that only read: ‘Let’s end this’.

It had felt so _real_ , what they had. No matter everything that happened, Yuuri’s love for Victor still does. He only has himself to blame for falling in love with someone so much better than him.

Yuuri dries his tears, determined to forget Victor’s sweet smile and cute freckles as soon as possible.

\---

Victor is knocking on his window.

Yuuri has no idea how he made it up there, but he opens the window and lets him in anyways.

Victor looks – he looks terrible. His eyes are red and his cheeks blotchy and Yuuri can tell right away that he’s been crying. Despite his best efforts, Yuuri’s heart breaks at the sight of him.

“Oh, Victor,” he murmurs, stepping closer.

“I don’t understand,” Victor says, voice wavering as a lone tear slides down his cheek. “What did I do wrong?” he asks, wiping it quickly and looking down, sniffing.

“JJ told me about the game, tomorrow,” Yuuri starts, and he’s uncertain, because this reaction from Victor is too raw for it to be staged, or part of a silly game.

Victor’s head snaps up.

“Look, Victor, I know your game is more important than the audition. I just… I just wish you would have told me you weren’t actually going to show up,” Yuuri tell shim, trying his best to sound calm and not heartbroken. “Good luck, though,” he adds, bitterly.

“I’m not playing.”

“You – what?”

“Tomorrow. I’m not playing. I told Yakov as soon as we decided to audition together. I’ve trained Yuri to be my replacement, and I – I quit the team, tonight.”

Yuuri stares at him, stunned, head reeling and heart pounding.

“But Victor,” he breaths out. “You’re the captain. You… you’re the best player in the team.”

“I don’t care.” Victor takes a step forward, so close they’re almost touching. “Yuuri, I hate basketball. I hated having to pretend that I loved it. I was scared of letting Yakov down, and my friends. But – singing with you, I felt happy. I felt _really_ happy, and I just couldn’t pretend anymore.”

Victor raises a hand and places it on Yuuri’s neck, thumb gently stroking his throat.

“I – I understand if you don’t want to – if you want to end this,” he says, voice trembling and eyes sad. “I know I’m not good enough for you.”

“Victor, that’s – “

“But I need to tell you something first. I fell in love with you, on New Year’s Eve. And I get it that you want to pretend like that night never happened because you’re embarrassed about singing in public and dancing with me, but that’s when I fell in love with you. And when I finally recognized you that day you crashed into me something in my heart just clicked. Yuuri, I love you. I don’t think I know how not to love you, but I will leave you alone if that’s what you want. I – “ Victor’s voice breaks as more tears roll down his cheeks and nose. “I just needed to tell you,” he finishes, sniffing loudly.

“I don’t remember.”

“W-what?”

“Victor, I don’t remember anything about New Year’s Eve. About singing with you, or … or _meeting_ you,” he confesses, still shocked.

“Oh,” is all Victor can say, looking even sadder. “It was a great night,” he tells him, hand sliding up Yuuri’s neck to cup his cheek. “I had never felt more alive.”

“You must have been very disappointed when I turned out to be a boring geek,” Yuuri says, wincing.

“Yuuri, when I say I fell in love with you, I mean _you._ Both the drunk hurricane at the party and the quiet, shy boy with a big heart and a beautiful smile,” Victor tells him quietly, eyes never leaving his.

“Me too,” Yuuri blurts out then, because if he doesn’t say it his heart is going to burst. “I love everything about you,” he confesses.

Victor melts then, relief and joy washing over his features as he slowly leans down to capture Yuuri’s mouth in a kiss, fingers lightly caressing Yuuri’s cheeks before sliding into his hair and gripping it gently. Yuuri holds on to Victor’s t-shirt to try and stay upright, as his head buzzes and his lips tingle and his knees wobble.

It’s Yuuri’s first kiss, and it’s everything he could have asked for.

\---

The entire basketball team comes to the audition.

Apparently, professor Yakov managed to postpone the game of a couple hours to come see Victor perform, and everyone else had tagged along. So had the members of the Maths and Physics  Club and every other student in the school. Yuuri should have known that Victor’s presence would have guaranteed a packed auditorium

“Nervous?” Victor asks him, head perched on Yuuri’s shoulder as he hugs him from behind.

“A little bit,” Yuuri admits.

“Would you be less nervous if I told you that you sounded better drunk off your face than Georgi does when he’s completely sober?”

Yuuri laughs.

When professor Cialdini calls their name, Victor takes Yuuri’s hand and winks at him, and then they step out on stage.

\---

They win the audition.

Phichit swears Yakov and Yuri Plisetsky were crying when the song finished. Sara Crispino quit in the middle of her performance, happily announcing that she actually hates musical theater and wants to join the baseball team. Mila Babicheva, said team’s captain, winks at her from the stands.

The Wildcats win the game, led by Yuri and JJ, and Victor cheers for them from the bleachers.

“You know,” he tells Yuuri, “this is the first time I’ve actually have fun at a basketball game.”

\---

Yuuri and Victor get married right after college.

They make _What I’ve Been Looking For_ their wedding march.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this silly AU! I had a blast writing it! Please make sure you leave a kudos\comment if you enjoyed this :)
> 
> Come find me on tumblr at byebyeholocene!


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